The ability of cotton to compensate for early season fruit removal was investigated. During the second week of squaring floral buds larger than a pinhead were hand removed for one, two, or three weeks. At 90 days after planting (DAP), standard growth analyses were conducted. At crop maturity, cotton was hand harvested by main-stem node and fruiting position. As the intensity of fruit removal increased, plant height, leaf area, and main-stem node number at 90 DAP increased. Plants subjected to more aggressive fruit removal also responded by increasing fruit production on higher main-stem nodes. Also, as the intensity of fruit removal increased, more vegetative as well as third position fruit were recorded. Third position fruit in the more aggressive fruit removal treatments were also larger. A delay in crop maturity was also measured.